The Development of the American Dream
The American Dream can be reviewed in a multitude of
contexts, whether it be a person’s definition of the Dream or the argument of whether
it exists. White and Hanson explore the depths of the American Dream in their book
“The American Dream in the 21st Century” and discuss it through many
different lens’. One that caught my eye was the chapter Whose Dream? Gender and the American Dream. This chapter divulges
into the definition of the American Dream and what it means for different genders.
In this chapter White ad Hanson used a series of surveys
from 1998 to 2009 to see the difference in thoughts about the American Dream
between men and women over time. The authors provide this statistical analysis
to further develop their claims about the Dream and conclude that “the
definition of the American Dream is multifaced” (78). They came to this
conclusion by reviewing the statistical data over the course of the decade,
which did change but had similar trends over time. Overall, “more gender differences
exist in opinion on the definition of the American Dream” showing that men and
women believe different things when it comes to the overall dream (96). Women
generally believe in a more spiritual side of the American Dream while men a
more materialistic side (96). White and Hanson divulge into this evidence in
their surveys but do not exactly pinpoint as to why this is so. Is it because
women are not given equal education opportunities, like the authors reviewed
earlier? Or is it because women receive lower salaries than men? White and
Hanson present many ideas as to what the cause of their beliefs could be but do
not give an absolute answer as to why women believe in a more spiritual dream
than men.
The authors give ideas on to how to solve the gender
gap of beliefs and salaries. Some of which are careers promoting personal
goals, implementing family policies, enforcing laws of equality, ensuring
safety nets are available for single mothers, and providing skills and jobs for
poor women (98). These are all systems that could contribute greatly and
decrease the gap between men and women, but they will take many years to be implemented.
Government action is needed to fully support most of them and in 2001, both the
male and female majority found the government to be insignificant in helping
them achieve the America Dream (87). This lack of hope in the government makes
me question how confident Americans in todays world are about the government implementing
actions to decrease the gender gap. If the government does succeed, however,
these goals for the future are sufficient in creating an egalitarian society. Regardless,
White and Hanson predict that the gender gap for wages will not be completely diminished
until 2057, and sexual harassment will not be diminished until 2116 (79). These
statistics are startling to me. The amount of years it will take to overcome
issues that everyone is aware of is staggering, yet true. White and Hanson do not
provide the math on how they came up with these years, however their predictions
do not seem far off.
As time goes on, as shown in the surveys, thoughts
about the American Dream fluctuates between men and women while still revolving
around similar ideas. Although the numbers fluidly move about the charts
provided, the decade surveyed shows a clear difference in beliefs between men
and women. The belief in different dreams between the two genders is not
something I had previously considered, however now seems quite simple. With the
provided context of inequalities present in today’s world between the two
genders, it is understandable as to why women may have a different idea for the
future than men.
I like how you examine the American Dream through genders. It is really interesting that gender limits some people from the American Dream. Your questions are valid and I believe also that White and Hansons missed some key points when they constructed those surveys.
ReplyDeleteIT is sad to say that gender roles means that there is either a dream that is easy to fulfill (men) or a dream that takes a whole other level of effort and devotion to fulfill (women). Constructing the surveys really did help on being able to come up with questions between the inequality of achieving the dream due to gender roles.
ReplyDeleteI never thought that gender would have a huge impact on the American Dream. It surprised me when you said that men falls more on the materialistic side because I have never thought about it that way. With the issue of gender gap, the twentieth century social movements like the Feminism Movement and LGBT are on the rise to fight for gender equality. The majority of these movements are women, who are fighting their own rights to achieve that American Dream.
ReplyDeleteI also was interested in this chapter and I skimmed it. I like how you really captured their main points on the difference between women's view of the American dream and men's view. I also found it quite startling towards the fact that the gender gap for wages wont be until 2057 going at the rate it is now even tho we have made significant progress from what it used to be. it makes it seem as if our progress didn't mea much with so much time ahead of us to wait. Its sad isn't it? The surveys you mention are also used in the next chapter and it gives more context and things to think about and how they relate.
ReplyDeleteTo me it isn't all that surprising that a large majority of men and women have different views on the American Dream. Whether that is due to cultural or biological influences is up to debate, but it shouldn't be viewed as an inherently bad or good thing.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't particularly expecting to form men and women to have differing views on the American dream, so this was an interesting read. Perhaps you are right, that these differences in belief come from differences in society that still have yet to be overcome. I feel as though that would make sense, as the gap between genders shockingly still exists in modern America.
ReplyDeleteI liked the way you tied in gender and used this chapter to expand upon what you already know and have learned about the American Dream. They provide an unexpected perspective on the American Dream and how it relates to gender.
ReplyDeleteI've always found this a bit controversial and something I love to discuss for the sake of conversation. I don't find either side being of good footing. Fighting for gender equality is definitely a touchy issue, but the wage gap has been proven wrong. I'm just going to say that the statistic is always looked at in the wrong perspective. Looking at the overall men vs. women, men make more money because the majority of men likely have STEM associated careers. That's all I'm going to say before more people get mad at me.
ReplyDeleteOne thing--the editors of the book are White and Hanson, but the author of this chapter is Sandra L. Hanson.
ReplyDelete